Robert Behn is a GOVERNING contributor. He is the faculty chair of the Harvard Kennedy School's Executive Education program on Driving Government Performance: Leadership Strategies that Produce Results.

The memo from Harriet Rangstrom, Zenith City's budget director, was
unambiguous. Like every other city agency, your Department of Public
Works will need to cut this fiscal year's expenditures by 5 percent
and next year's by 15 percent. With revenues declining, the West
Dakota legislature has reduced its support for the cities and counties
in the state. Zenith City is stuck. And so are you.

"Not again!" That's your first reaction (or at least your first
printable reaction). Clemma Rogers has filed another grievance, and,
if history provides any clue, she'll win this one, too. Clemma, it
would seem, makes her living filing grievances, and you, as the
commissioner for West Dakota's Department of Vocational
Rehabilitation, are the one who ultimately has to deal with them.

The city council elections are over, and now, as chief of staff to
Mayor Jamie Wiliams, you need to turn your attention to the next two
years--the last two years. The city charter prohibits the mayor of
Zenith City from seeking a third four-year term. Yet Mayor Wiliams has
to govern for two more years--during which time everyone will call her
(although not always to her face) a lame duck.

Originally, Kerriga Joseph, the city manager, had thought Hippiloto was a gamble. Most managers serve up the trendy management pitch about delegation, empowerment, discretion and responsibility. Joseph actually lived those principles.